It's Never Easy to Close Military Bases

Walter Pincus : "The third time may be the charm for the Defense Department in getting Congress to start the procedure that ultimately could close more excess military bases. That would mean authorizing the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process."

"Past and proposed reductions in force numbers have created what defense officials say is more than a 25 percent surplus of military bases and facilities that are wasting billions of dollars each year. A separate Army analysis found that its excess capacity within the United States ranges between 12 and 28 percent, depending upon the facility. That figure will grow, because the Army is set to drop another 70,000 troops in the next five years."

"Closing a base or even a facility is a political hot potato — so much so that Congress not only turned down the last two requests to start the BRAC process, in 2012 and 2013, but also barred the Pentagon from even planning for one."